Preventable baby deaths must lead to maternity improvements in Scotland

The need for improvement in Scotland’s maternity services has again been laid bare after it was revealed that the deaths of three newborn babies could have been prevented had “reasonable precautions” been taken by maternity staff.

The three babies died within hours of their births in two Lanarkshire hospitals in 2019 and 2021- with a Fatal Accident Inquiry report finding that their deaths could “realistically” have been avoided had different advice or procedures been followed.

The inquiry found that “defects” in maternity services contributed to each of the three deaths, and that Leo Lamont, Ellie McCormick and Mira-Belle Bosch could have lived had they received better standards of care.

Sheriff Principal Aisha Anwar KC made 11 recommendations for future maternity care, including reviewing electronic patient information records to improve alerts for at-risk mothers, and for ambulance crews to have a direct line to each maternity unit in Scotland.

The latest stories of tragedy come only months after shocking findings from the Birth Trauma Report revealed that one in three mothers in Scotland have been traumatised at some point during their maternity experience.

The inquiry found that poor standards of care were “all too frequently tolerated as normal” and highlighted the frequency with which new and expectant mothers’ concerns were dismissed.

These very themes were present in the cases of all three babies whose deaths were the focus of the recent Fatal Accident Inquiry, as well as many others, including the shocking case which made headlines across the country of a premature baby who died at five days old, after a consultant did not visit his expectant mother in-person and instead monitored life-or-death heartbeat data via WhatsApp.

Derek Couper, head of clinical negligence for Slater and Gordon in Scotland, is a leading figure nationally in birth injury claims, with one of his previous cases regarded as the highest-value personal injury case ever to settle in Scotland at its time of resolution.

“The deaths of Leo, Ellie and Mira-Belle are absolute tragedies, and the findings that all three could have been prevented had reasonable precautions been taken will be utterly devastating for their families – and begs the question as to why continue to see the same basic failings within our maternity services,” says Derek.

“Without question, action must be taken now to stop the occurrence of these preventable deaths. It is unacceptable that lessons are not being learned and that we are not seeing really decisive and urgent measures being taken. Time and again the

issue of maternity services is raised – yet it takes further tragedies for anything to be done.

“I welcome the eleven points raised in the conclusion of the Fatal Accident Inquiry, and would urge hospitals, Health Boards and the NHS more widely to implement them as a matter of priority. We cannot continue to accept the normalisation of poor standards of care, and must push for positive change to save the lives of babies and mothers across the country.”